POP/ROCKTrial Break: Snoop Doggy Dogg, on trial...

POP/ROCK

Trial Break: Snoop Doggy Dogg, on trial in Los Angeles Superior Court for murder, is scheduled to join fellow rappers Ice Cube, Tupac Shakur, Tha Dogg Pound, Dr. Dre and DJ Quik for a six-date tour during the last week in December when the courtroom where Snoop is being tried will be dark. Billed as a memorial tribute to the late Eazy-E, a founding member of the seminal gangsta rap group N.W.A. who died of complications of AIDS in March, the tour is scheduled to kick off Dec. 27 in Cleveland and will also include shows in Louisville, Memphis, Birmingham, Atlanta and Miami. Snoop, whose real name is Calvin Broadus, and two of his associates were accused of murdering Philip Woldermariam at a Westside park in 1993. Broadus, who was driving the vehicle from which the gun was allegedly fired by his bodyguard, has claimed self-defense.

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Billboard Winners: Female trio TLC won three awards--artist of the year, best R&B; artist and R&B; single of the year for “Creep”--Wednesday night at the annual Billboard Music Awards. The evening also produced a pair of double winners: Notorious B.I.G. for best rap artist and rap single (“One More Chance/Stay With Me”) and John Michael Montgomery for best country artist and country single (“Sold”). Among other winners, Hootie & the Blowfish took album of the year honors for “Cracked Rear View,” rapper Coolio won the single of the year award for “Gangsta’s Paradise” and the band Live was named rock artist of the year. Special awards also went to Joni Mitchell, Michael Jackson and Janet Jackson--but both Jacksons missed the awards due to Michael Jackson’s hospitalization. The Billboard Awards, held in New York this year, are determined by record sales and radio airplay.

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Beatlemania Continues: For Beatles fans still yearning for more, the new “Free as a Bird” single hits stores Tuesday as part of a four-track CD including additional songs not on the current chart-topper, “Beatles Anthology Volume 1.” Featured are previously unheard takes from the 1963 recordings of “I Saw Her Standing There” and “This Boy,” as well as a 1967 recording of “Christmas Time (Is Here Again),” superimposed with spoken seasonal greetings taped in 1966.

MOVIES

AFI Goes to Disney World: Los Angeles-based American Film Institute announced plans Thursday for a new attraction at Florida’s Walt Disney World commemorating 100 years of American filmmaking. The AFI Showcase at Disney-MGM Studios, scheduled to open in mid-February, will illustrate AFI’s work “to preserve and enhance moviemaking and to continue the great tradition of American film,” said AFI Director Jean Picker Firstenberg. Plans call for an interactive display on preservation efforts for such endangered films as “West Side Story” and “Lawrence of Arabia,” exhibits on AFI’s 24 Life Achievement Award recipients and sections on behind-the-scenes movie production. The attraction, designed by Walt Disney Imagineering, will be the final stop on the popular Disney-MGM Studios Backstage Tour.

ART

Hotel Art, Part 2: Last weekend, nearly 50 American and European art dealers gathered for the second annual Gramercy International Contemporary Art Fair in rooms and suites at Sunset Boulevard’s ever-hip Chateau Marmont Hotel. This weekend, a slightly different rent-a-room art event takes place: Nearly two dozen Los Angeles-based artists will exhibit their paintings, sculptures, photographs, video and installation art in 10 rooms at the Lotus Motel in Inglewood. Karen Carson, Maura Bendett, Nancy Evans and Erik Otsea are among the participating artists. Tonight’s opening festivities begin at 7 at the Lotus, 437 W. Manchester Ave. The show will be open for viewing Saturday from 3 p.m. to 10 p.m.

QUICK TAKES

Tony- and Emmy-winning actor-singer Mandy Patinkin, who recently left his starring role in the CBS series “Chicago Hope,” will perform in concert at the Doolittle Theatre Jan. 16-21. It will be the first activity at the Doolittle since Center Theatre Group’s lease on the facility ended last summer. . . . Comedian Bob Hope has signed on to star in an NBC special this spring. Hope, 92, recently canceled his annual NBC Christmas special for the first time since 1950. Meanwhile, Hope is scheduled to receive the first Jonas Salk Humanitarian Award from the March of Dimes next Tuesday, at the Beverly Hilton. . . . Actress Anna Deavere Smith and jazzman Buddy Collette perform at the Santa Monica Museum of Art tonight in a $125-per-person benefit for the museum. The 6:30 p.m. event also includes a buffet dinner and a preview of new exhibitions including “A Glimpse of the Norton Collection as Revealed by Kim Dingle.” . . . Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band will play at the San Diego Sports Arena on April 16 and the L.A. Forum April 22 as part of their first tour in nine years.